OnStar, General Motors’ driving assistance service, has plans to add voice-to-text and text-to-voice Facebook and texting functionality to an update later this month.
Elizabeth Robbins, a spokeswoman for OnStar, said the Facebook connectivity would read a user’s news feed aloud, as well as translate voice to text so a user can update their status. They’re also teasing a feature that would read text messages aloud and allow a user to reply to them using preset messages.
No matter how dangerous using mobile devices while driving can be, people are still going to do it. Hopefully, OnStar has decided to add social networking functionality to its roadside service as a way to alleviate the dangers of using mobile devices while driving. Brandy Schaffels, an analyst at TrueCar.com, suggests GM is simply adding the features to OnStar to attract a more modern consumer base, which would make the reasoning focused more on business than safety.
(Engadget via CrunchGear)
